advertisement


Govt to tackle obesity..apparently

It’s as if the NHS and health education bodies haven’t been addressing this head on for decades. Instead the great leader wakes up one morning and says “Im fat” but not only that. “I’m fat so we need to do something about it”. It’s shallow, in the moment populism and he’s learning from Trump. It’s kind of crap Trump comes up with when he needs stimulating or needs to divert.
 
Diet is far and away the most important, exercise is good for your overall health but nigh on useless for controlling weight.

Balance is the key IMO. Most people think they should eat 3 meals a day because their parents did.

Though their parents probably had to walk to work and work a hard 10 hour day, all burning calories.

The balance is that calorific intake should match calorific output.

Many now stick to the perceived 3 square meals regime, but with added snacking and grazing in between.
With a much reduced physical output resulting in added fat reserves.

'fat reserves' is an interesting concept, fat is stored for times of fast, for when food is not available but our constantly available supply of carbohydrates ( its sugar ) (bread, biscuits,cereal) means we rarely have to burn our fat reserves, so we are constantly adding to them.
 
It’s as if the NHS and health education bodies haven’t been addressing this head on for decades. Instead the great leader wakes up one morning and says “Im fat” but not only that. “I’m fat so we need to do something about it”. It’s shallow, in the moment populism and he’s learning from Trump. It’s kind of crap Trump comes up with when he needs stimulating or needs to divert.

He should have saved it for a quiet news day, though I fear there will be few of these over the forthcoming months.
The continuing recession/depression is also his fault.

As is the poor weather.
 
He should have saved it for a quiet news day, though I fear there will be few of these over the forthcoming months.
The continuing recession/depression is also his fault.

As is the poor weather.
It’s pure news cycle management. The overweight guy has been in office for a year, things aren’t going well so “here’s a dead overweight cat”. File with his other health advice:

“I was at a hospital the other night where I think there were a few coronavirus patients and I shook hands with everybody, you will be pleased to know, and I continue to shake hands,” he said. “People obviously can make up their own minds but I think the scientific evidence is … our judgment is that washing your hands is the crucial thing.”

On the very day SAGE warned against this, the Prime Minister flatly contradicts the medical scientific advice in public.
 
I’m going to ask about a gastric band, I don’t know whether they’ll do that though because I’m not THAT overweight... and when I can exercise properly, I do lose weight

My limited understanding is that a gastric band is designed to stimulate the feeling of fullness after much smaller meals, ie. a mechanical alternative to simply reducing calories consumed.

I understand access to your normal exercise channels is currently suspended, but as I always find you to be one of the more balanced here at pfm, I wonder if an alternative program / course to strengthen will power in resisting the urge to eat more might be worth exploring ?

I do have a crackpot theory that the more you weigh, the harder it is to resist the urge to eat more. Almost everyone who keeps to a strict diet is relatively slim, so the theory is that the urge to eat is directly proportional to the amount of cells in your body, ie. far harder for you at 18 stone than me at 12 stone. Hence greater will power required .... and of course assuming a sensible diet (I’m pescatarian, but since getting the vegan content up to about 90+%, ie. almost completely eliminating dairy, I find I no longer have to make any effort to keep my weight balanced, whereas before it required constant vigilance).
 
My limited understanding is that a gastric band is designed to stimulate the feeling of fullness after much smaller meals, ie. a mechanical alternative to simply reducing calories consumed.

I understand access to your normal exercise channels is currently suspended, but as I always find you to be one of the more balanced here at pfm, I wonder if an alternative program / course to strengthen will power in resisting the urge to eat more might be worth exploring ?

I do have a crackpot theory that the more you weigh, the harder it is to resist the urge to eat more. Almost everyone who keeps to a strict diet is relatively slim, so the theory is that the urge to eat is directly proportional to the amount of cells in your body, ie. far harder for you at 18 stone than me at 12 stone. Hence greater will power required .... and of course assuming a sensible diet (I’m pescatarian, but since getting the vegan content up to about 90+%, ie. almost completely eliminating dairy, I find I no longer have to make any effort to keep my weight balanced, whereas before it required constant vigilance).
I think you’re right. I do have strong hunger pangs at times that I never had before I became ill. When I was first discharged from hospital, I spent about four months being nursed by my parents, completely unable to care for myself. I was fed well but was constantly climbing the walls with incessant hunger (figuratively speaking, I couldn’t even get out of bed unaided), It was entirely related to the massive quantities of steroids I was on. I think the hunger pangs I still have are largely steroid related but there’s also the issue that I have more stomach to fill. It takes a lot of will power.

Gastric band surgery is probably a bit drastic for me, but I do have a battle on my hands and I’d be quite happy feeling full on half of what actually need to eat to feel full.

PS, I eat more meat than I should. I love fish, I’d be grateful of some vegan/pescatarian recipes, it’s something I could definitely wean into our regular diet in place of some of our usual meals, and I’m sure there would be health benefits to it.
 
I think you’re right. I do have strong hunger pangs at times that I never had before I became ill. When I was first discharged from hospital, I spent about four months being nursed by my parents, completely unable to care for myself. I was fed well but was constantly climbing the walls with incessant hunger (figuratively speaking, I couldn’t even get out of bed unaided), It was entirely related to the massive quantities of steroids I was on. I think the hunger pangs I still have are largely steroid related but there’s also the issue that I have more stomach to fill. It takes a lot of will power.

Gastric band surgery is probably a bit drastic for me, but I do have a battle on my hands and I’d be quite happy feeling full on half of what actually need to eat to feel full.

PS, I eat more meat than I should. I love fish, I’d be grateful of some vegan/pescatarian recipes, it’s something I could definitely wean into our regular diet in place of some of our usual meals, and I’m sure there would be health benefits to it.

try this recipe.
Leave out the deep fried prawns to reduce the calories.

https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/coconut-prawns-and-watermelon-phil-vickery-recipe
 
try this recipe.
Leave out the deep fried prawns to reduce the calories.

https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/coconut-prawns-and-watermelon-phil-vickery-recipe
That looks utterly delicious, definitely leave out the deep fried prawns. I bought an air fryer for the odd occasion we have chips and I don’t eat anything deep fried now. I’d just grill the prawns... I like prawns cooked on a hot skillet on the BBQ, but firing up the BBQ for eight prawns is a bit of a hassle.

I love a salad with some tinned mackerel, it’s my main go to when I’m heavily involved in an exercise regime, after 128 lengths of the baths and 40 minutes on a recumbent cross trainer and hand cycle, the last thing I feel like doing is eating anything that could be perceived as junk food, bread included, so on the way back from the leisure centre, I pick up some fresh salad and a tin of mackerel, and that’s my main meal for the day, and that’s when the weight absolutely drops off me. I lost 25KG last year doing that and felt amazing, I still couldn’t walk unaided, that won’t change, but I was definitely one of the fittest people I know. On a funny side note, it’s fun and somewhat gratifying convincing one of your “fit and thin” friends to come along on your workout when they keep poking fun at your double chin, then watching then sit on the side exhausted 10 minutes in, (eight lengths for them), and fail similar when you hit the gym.:D It’ll take a few weeks to get back to that level of fitness myself, and it’ll be very hard, but I will.
 
TLDR, they'll get it wrong and make things worse, with help from commercial interests, like they did last time when they steered the nation away from fat and towards carbs because of junk science funded by purveyors of processed wheat and sugar products; it's what governments do.

Or is Boris personally getting his own excess lard under control? Should help lower the national average...
 
From HuffPost

“Before we had to rely on food banks, I always cooked meals from scratch and tried to eat healthy and nutritious food,” she said.

“But since using food banks – for which we are very grateful – foods high in salt and sugar have become a daily part of our life.

“The problem is things like pasta, rice, noodles and tinned food are staples of food banks. But if you are using them in your diet for almost every meal, it is not good long term.

“My son had never had spaghetti hoops but this is a regular food given out at food banks. When you’re poor, the choice of eating healthily is taken away from you.”

And that is the reality for many. They can’t even afford a government discounted meal at the purveyors of tasteless, orange sludge. Poverty for many IS a contributor to poor diet, and while governments refuse to tackle poverty effectively, it will continue.
 
Having been sniffy about the government announcement on prescribing cycling without doing something about cycle lanes, I feel honour bound to recognise the Govt announcement today promising £2b for cycle lanes.

If, as reported on BBC radio news this morning this money will be for dedicated cycle lanes and not just a bit of paint on the road, it has to be a good thing.

My big worry is that this is another fairly obvious idea that Labour should be leading on. When will Labour come out with some proactive ideas rather than just reacting with a ‘too little, too late’ response every time Johnson makes the running?
 
I do like the idea of the traffic light labels on food, but they're not mandatory and some manufacturers use the labels but not the colours; it's a quick and easy way of checking how much fat, saturated fats, sugar and salt are in the food that you are buying in the supermarket. Various governments have tinkered with trying to control obesity, but I'm not convinced that they can have much influence tbh. For a start, I hate the taste of the sweeteners that are put into drinks these days; consuming in moderation is much better in my view. I don't know if education is the answer either, when you think of all the effort that has gone into getting people to quit smoking.
 
take 2



No, you do not need to be fairly well-off to eat healthily.

Yes, I get that you think that (twice no less) but there are studies that show the price of food per calorie is consistently higher for healthier food than for less healthy food. The differences are not that large of course unless you are poor.
 
Yes, I get that you think that (twice no less) but there are studies that show the price of food per calorie is consistently higher for healthier food than for less healthy food. The differences are not that large of course unless you are poor.

Partly about availablity too; in the countryside you can nip out and get a bag of potatoes or onions for virtually nothing and we've got loads of little cheap farm shops.

Not the same if you're paying supermarket marketing margins and can't afford a car.

In the middle of Clacton on benefits life choices are limited and the kids see MaccyDs as a cheap meal; fills you up better than half a bag of fancy lettuce from Waitrose too.
 
From HuffPost

“Before we had to rely on food banks, I always cooked meals from scratch and tried to eat healthy and nutritious food,” she said.

“But since using food banks – for which we are very grateful – foods high in salt and sugar have become a daily part of our life.

“The problem is things like pasta, rice, noodles and tinned food are staples of food banks. But if you are using them in your diet for almost every meal, it is not good long term.

“My son had never had spaghetti hoops but this is a regular food given out at food banks. When you’re poor, the choice of eating healthily is taken away from you.”

And that is the reality for many. They can’t even afford a government discounted meal at the purveyors of tasteless, orange sludge. Poverty for many IS a contributor to poor diet, and while governments refuse to tackle poverty effectively, it will continue.
I’ve volunteered at the Camden food bank.

One of the first pieces of information you need to get from someone in need of help (in a tactful manner), is whether they have cooking facilities at all. Many do not have the means to even cook pasta or heat up a tin of spag hoops. That’s the reality of having no real choice or opportunity to eat healthily.
 
Yes, I get that you think that (twice no less) but there are studies that show the price of food per calorie is consistently higher for healthier food than for less healthy food. The differences are not that large of course unless you are poor.

What studies?

I have just been to Aldi. Cheap veg, cheap tinned legumes. Bags of lentils are hardly expensive.

And that is without mentioning the cheap fish and meat they sell.

I get that some healthier foods are expensive, but on the whole they are not.

Your insinuation was that "you need to be fairly well off to eat healthily."
You have offered nothing to support your statement.


(out of interest: I was extremely poor in the 1980's. Council house, no car, no telephone. Married with two kids. I was unemployed, and my then wife was unemployed. We had access to free butter and cheese (I cannot remember the name of the government scheme) - going to the shops involved walking a mile at least. We were poor but we could still eat healthily because we could cook.)
 
TLDR, they'll get it wrong and make things worse, with help from commercial interests, like they did last time when they steered the nation away from fat and towards carbs because of junk science funded by purveyors of processed wheat and sugar products; it's what governments do.
A hint of conspirationism maybe ?
 
Did the policy decision originate with Johnson himself (or more worryingly) his mistress? The latter seems more plausible given that she has made public how her other personal hobbyhorses have turned into government positions, with The Spectator purring its approval.
 
What studies?

I have just been to Aldi. Cheap veg, cheap tinned legumes. Bags of lentils are hardly expensive.

And that is without mentioning the cheap fish and meat they sell.

I get that some healthier foods are expensive, but on the whole they are not.

Your insinuation was that "you need to be fairly well off to eat healthily."
You have offered nothing to support your statement.


(out of interest: I was extremely poor in the 1980's. Council house, no car, no telephone. Married with two kids. I was unemployed, and my then wife was unemployed. We had access to free butter and cheese (I cannot remember the name of the government scheme) - going to the shops involved walking a mile at least. We were poor but we could still eat healthily because we could cook.)


My original post was a question not a statement. You have answered by saying some healthier foods are expensive. You have also said that you do not have to be well-off to eat healthily. Great, a couple of answers to my question. Others have given their opinions/replied as well.

There is research on the subject by Cambridge and Harvard.
 
There's this from the Food Foundation's submission to the House of Lords in 2019 (https://foodfoundation.org.uk/wp-co...n-to-HOL-Inquiry_30September-2019-website.pdf)

The cost of the Eatwell Guide (Public Health England’s guidance on a healthy, balanced diet for the general population) is £41.93 per week for an adult. The Food Foundation compared the cost of following the Eatwell Guide to household expenditure data from the 2015-2016 Living Costs and Food Survey and to disposable income data from the 2015-2016 Family Resources Survey. It was found that the poorest decile of UK households would need to spend 74% of their after housing disposable income on food to meet the cost of the Eatwell Guide compared to just 6% in the richest decile. Just over half of households (53%) are currently spending at least enough on food and non-alcoholic drink per week to meet the estimated Eatwell Guide cost based on their household composition. In practice this means approximately 14.4 million households are not able to spend enough to meet the Eatwell Guide recommended diet.
 


advertisement


Back
Top